What If
by Jak Cooper the Lombax
Summary: Collection of Ratchet and Clank One-Shots. Stories spread across the R&C timeline, including AUs and maybe some crossovers if requested. Have a Wonderful Day!
1. Clank Died

**Disclaimer: Ratchet and Clank is owned by Insomniac Games.**

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Okay, new thing of one shots. This time, separate stories on the chapters..

Also, this one gets dark pretty dang fast. So... Yeah, that's why that warning down there is there.

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 **Warning: Contains character death, thoughts of suicide, mention of drug use.**

Clank is dead.

The news struck the young Lombax harder than anything before. Sure, seeing the closest friend of his father's corpse at The Clock struck him, but this was different.

This was his closest friend. His first true friend. That robot would stick to his back metaphorically and literally for fourteen years.

Now... Now his back felt... naked, vulnerable, and cold.

His other friends tried to cheer him up, but no matter what they did, he'd always put on a mask and give them thanks, then shut himself up in his bedroom and either lie awake until sheer exhaustion knocked him into sleep, or until the storm of tears and heart broken muffled screams and pleas pulled him into the same old nightmare.

Clank and him enjoying the dusty Veldin air with a lazy afternoon, then the skies turn to complete darkness and Clank's eyes simply shut down. Ratchet calls his name over and over, slowly building up to triggering a panic attack. Then there's a shout of anger and a bolt of plasma flies out from the darkness and Clank becomes nothing but a pile of scrap, save his head which has his antenna bent, the left eye cracked, and his jaw locked in that of a plead for help.

Ratchet's tried therapy, he tried talking to everyone that knew his loss, he even turned to chain drinking and chewing up pain killers for a week, and nothing helped.

So, what is the famous Lombax doing now? Debating with himself.

Should he try to maybe fix his broken friend and fail, or continue living without him, or even...

Ratchet shivered as he thought of that thought. The ultimatum.

"No. That's not what... But..." The Lombax growled as he glanced over at the blaster and knife on the table. Yes, he had few ways planned of how he wanted to die. Slow and painful by slitting his wrists or throat open in the bathtub, or quick and painless with a bullet through the brain, but no matter how hard he tried, no matter how close the knife got to his neck or wrists, no matter how close the trigger was pulled to fire the shot, just a few seconds before he pulled it off, he'd either drop the blade or firearm and shake with sobs from the mere thought of ending everything in a splatter of blood.

He was in denial of Clank being dead the first week. He'd scream at anyone who stated any negative about Clank for two months. He would pay anyone any amount of bolts to fix his friend for six months. He finally went numb from everything after a year and he wished it all to finally end.

"Death is never the answer." Everyone always said that. Even Clank did back when the Lombax was in the Depression stage of mourning after Azimuth passed, but that only lasted two months before he entered Acceptance, but this time, no one has spent even two hours to simply be there for him. Ratchet finally made up his mind and stood up, slipped into a hooded sweatshirt, grabbed the keys to his apartment, and turned the lights off as he went out for a walk.

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Artist/Band/Song that gave inspiration: My Chemical Romance's Famous Last Words

Yeah. I couldn't come up with a ending, so that seemed good enough.

So, Yes, you readers may submit prompts, but there is a rule: **One prompt per person.**

Also, don't expect anything above the T rating. And as always, I'll see you guys later!

 _ **~ Jak Cooper the Lombax**_


	2. Drek Survived

**Disclaimer: Ratchet and Clank is owned by Insomniac Games and I'm starting to run out of jokes for these things, and my English as terrible even if I fluent in language.**

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"Ah. You finally arrived."

Ratchet kept his posture as he cautiously walked up the steps to the seated robot.

"It's been a while. Has it not, Lombax."

"Yeah. It has been a while." Ratchet kept his eyes focused on his old enemy. It still struck him senseless for a few moments when he heard that this man was somehow still alive.

"You honestly thought I was going to go down that easy?"

"Yeah. I did. I mean, I kinda used your own weapon against your planet."

"Fool!" Chairman Drek shouted as he turned his chair to show what kind of fate he suffered for years after the Deplanetizer. Half of his face was replaced by robotics and only his hands and feet were organic, but severely damaged to where a few of his fingers were robotic.

"I was going to simply rule the galaxy with one giant planet, and you! You had to just step in and become a hero! You should have joined Qwark, but I'm sure you've seen his true colors by now."

"Obviously. It's been nearly fourteen years now."

"Ah, yes. Hate does make an old man somewhat blind, but then again, I've watched you grow up into this Lombax. And, my. My, my, my. You have quite the blood spilt on your hands."

"My hands aren't as bloody as yours."

"Well, I haven't killed another of my kind. Unlike you."

Ratchet nearly smacked the half robotic Drek with his wrench, had he not taken a second to collect himself.

"I looked into the data base, Alister Azimuth. Banished from the Lombax Universe due to giving Emperor Tachyon the technology to mass genocide the Lombaxes. Did he ever tell you this?"

"He did. And unlike the Lombax Council, I forgave him."

"Well. You did banish that Cragmite back to his kind." Drek chuckled as he looked back at the new nebula due to a old star going super nova.

"Do you know how the universe works? Stars die, and new ones are born just to die and give birth to new ones, and it goes on and on. Planets surrounding those stars die and when the new stars are born, gravity takes over and new planets are made with the ashes and dirt from the old planets. It's such a shame most races aren't like that. Lombaxes for example: They are the most intelligent of races, then one of them makes a mistake. The elders banish that one who made a mistake, then they gather as many of them as they can and leave those who weren't fast enough to die. The remaining Lombaxes spread across the nearest galaxies. One Lombax, now a father brings his child to a backwater planet, leaves him there, and goes off to die. Such a sad start in life. The child grows up all alone until a Blargian Warbot Defect crashes a ship on the planet that the orphan was left on. The two become friends after they save the galaxy. Then, they go on a few more adventures, until a race called Zoni take the Warbot Defect away to the center of the universe. I do believe it was called, The Great Clock, no? So, the lonely Lombax goes into a deep depression until he finds his friend. And when he finds him, he has another Lombax with him, who he shorty kills when the Lombax tries to save their race!"

"He would have ripped the universe into shreds!"

"At least it would end everyone's suffering!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW HOW THE CLOCK WORKS!" Ratchet shouted as he tackled Drek out of his chair and through the glass floor into what seemed to be a preplanned fighting arena.

"If you kill me, make sure I'm dead this time... Hero."

"I'll make sure of that." Ratchet snarled as he lifted his wrench as Drek raised a Combustor Pistol.

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Artist/Band/Song that gave inspiration: NateWantsToBattle's The Evil King

Woo! Two one-shots in one night! Actually, this one and the one before were prewritten and I haven't uploaded them until tonight. So, that's all I've got to say.

 _ **~Jak Cooper the Lombax**_


	3. Ratchet Had Severe PTSD and Depression

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

 **WARNING: THIS ONE SHOT DEALS WITH SUICIDE AND THOUGHTS OF SUICIDE. If you or someone you know is suffering from suicidal thoughts and/or severe depression, get help. Don't take that risk, and always remember, someone WILL miss you if you go, your parents, siblings, even co-workers will miss you. Life may suck right now, but it WILL get better. Just hang in there.**

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Alister maybe left the mortal world, but for some reason he has been haunting me in my dreams. I seen him twisted and mangled up by only Orvus knows what and he's asking me why I didn't help him. Other times; he's fighting me and he tells me that I am shaming my race even more than he did. And there's always this one... I see Azimuth throwing a electric bolt at me, Clank just stands there and watches in shock, and there's nothing I can do. I can't move, I can't scream, I can't even breathe right.

It doesn't help either that when I snap out of the dream I can't breathe an ounce of oxygen util what feels like forever; I suddenly jolt up screaming and kicking myself to the very head of the bed. Whenever that happens, I either see Alister at the foot of the bed or tangled up in my bed sheets beside me. I've tried everything I could think of to put my mind at rest. I dabbled in yoga, meditation, therapy, keeping a journal, song writing and story writing, even making as many devices and gadgets as I possibly could.

Nothing works, and I feel like I'm falling to pieces. I can't keep my mind focused on what's physically around me, and I'm always dwelling on thoughts that worry everyone who cares about me. I'm thinking of jumping off a roof; out into a street in front of a bus; walking into a dark alley with a shadowy figure at the end of it; putting a rope around my neck; slicing my arms open in the bathtub, or just simply putting a round through my head. I don't know if I can keep going through this hell.

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"Ratchet!" I could only lift my head a few centimeters off of the ground. A large puddle of my blood slowly spreading out from my body to Talwyn's feet was the only object I could look at.

"CLANK! CALL EMERGENCY NOW!" Talwyn snatched the First Aid kit and started wrapping gauze and ace bandages around my forearms.

"Please don't die. Please don't die." Talwyn repeated over and over as she tried to stop the bleeding and keep me going on a road that seems to never have an end.

"Tal... Please... Just let me die... It's all I ask." I gave one last smile to Talwyn before my world went dark.

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... ... Well... Yeah...

Guess that shows how far I can go.

If anyone needs a stuffed Ratchet or Clank plush, here ya go. *offers Plushies.*

 **Song I listened to while writing: All I See by NateWantsToBattle**

 _ **~Jak Cooper the Lombax**_


End file.
